Sony, Will Smith Pick Up Movie Rights to 'Risk'

Sure, board games movies seem to be popping up much, much faster than the need demonstrates - we haven't even seen one of the new crop yet and there are about a half-dozen in various stages of development - but there are a couple that sound pretty good. Battleship will essentially be a naval adventure set in WWII, and we just heard that the movie based on Ouija isn't being farmed out to chumps. But this one might be the granddaddy. Sony has picked up the rights to Risk from Hasbro, with Will Smith on board as a producer. I wonder if he'll star. If I could quote another childhood favorite likely to get a movie someday, the Magic 8-Ball says "Signs point to yes." The reason I love the idea of Risk and think Smith is the right man for the job is because, frankly, I think this could be the biggest movie ever made. It may not become the most lucrative in the final analysis, but a movie about a full-on war that spans the globe with the planet's biggest movie star? We won't see the likes of this for some time to come. Sony frequently pairs with Smith, and the total international take for those nine films is just over $3 billion. Hancock, a film that didn't really have many hardcore fans, still made over $600 million internationally. There's less risk (but plenty more pun) in Risk because of the brand name recognition and Will Smith thrown in for good measure. There's no such thing as a can't-miss prospect, of course, but could you greenlight this movie at $300 million or more? I think you could. Says Sony's Doug Belgrad, "The strategic thinking and the tactical gambles that players must take in the game are what make Risk a classic, thoroughly engaging game." You and I know strategic thinking and tactics makes for a better board game than a movie, of course, which is why Belgrad continued, "Those elements translated into an action-packed, thrilling story are what will make this a uniquely exciting movie." Translated being the operative word here. Yeah, I'm pretty curious to see just how big this one gets. Not because I love enormous budgets but because I think they've finally found one that justifies all the location expenses, the movie star, the effects, and everything else. Of course, none of that matters if the movie's a stiff, but I think it has the potential to be a rather significant summer movie in the grand scheme of things. It's a more intriguing prospect than that Stretch Armstrong movie, in any case.

Comments

[Orinn]

The movie would have to be 8 hours long, and no one would be allowed to control Asia.

[SEAN]

Sounds really good idea, very excited Smith never dissapoints really...